The Ghosts of the Past
by Lady Dementia
Summary: For Overdose, the formula is Past Present Future. But it isn't always that easy...6 in the Overdose series
1. Default Chapter

For Overdose, the formula is Past + Present = Future. But it isn't always that easy...  
  
Hasbro owns the Beast Wars, but the plot and Overdose are mine. Please ask before using them.  
  
The Ghosts of the Past  
By Lady Dementia  
Dementedangel@hotmail.com   
  
* * * * *   
  
Optimus looked over at Rhinox. "Anything?"   
  
He glanced at the scans he was trying to run on the being in the CR Chamber. "Nothing. This, er, Bob is blocking our computer."  
  
The Maximal leader stared at the plain gray rectangle hooked up to the Chamber. "Is there any way around it? I want to know as much as we can find out about Overdose."   
  
Rhinox sighed. "I can try."   
  
"Dudes, that wouldn't, like, be nice." The Maximals jumped as the rectangle spoke. "The dude, like, didn't want you, like, scanning her, dudes."   
  
Optimus smiled a bit involuntarily at the strange computer's voice patterns. "And which dude are you talking about?" he asked jokingly.   
  
There was a long pause. Then, "The dude. Dude, dudes...dudette!" Bob exclaimed. "The DUDETTE didn't, like, want you, like, scanning her."   
  
"Oh." Optimus leaned down and whispered to Rhinox, "Try, anyway. We need to know more."   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose shifted inside the CR Chamber as a scanning beam passed over her. Hypersensitive sensors that shouldn't have been that sensitive in normal transformers, or just plain shouldn't have been there, picked it up, activating more systems that shouldn't have been there. Defense systems came online, but left the main systems shut down.   
  
The crazy femme's systems scrambled information, sent out electrical pulses that mislead computers, and generally did everything they could to prevent accurate scans. They surrounded her in a haze of energies, all while she herself was safely offline.   
  
Inside her mind, however, the defenses triggered memories as she vaguely felt them sending alerts to each other. While they fought something they identified as an enemy, she remembered...   
  
* * * * *  
  
"Hey, check it out," the small red transformer chuckled. He held up a small ball of fur. "This bot left his poor organic pet home while he went out for the night." The pet, a victim of the current fashion of owning an organic animal, squirmed in the red transformer's grasp.   
  
Overdose looked up from carefully packing the absent owner's costly belongings into her pack. "It's kinda cute," she giggled. She glanced back down at her loot so far. "I think I've gotten all I can sell easily. What about you?"   
  
Her partner, she dimly recalled his name was Streetshine, casually shrugged. "Yeah, works for me." He slowly tightened his grip on the organic as he spoke. "But before we go, I'm gonna kill this thing. I never liked the things, and I wonder what it's like to kill one..."   
  
"Don't." Overdose straightened up.   
  
"Why not?" He grinned and continued tightening his grip. The pet writhed and cried out in pain.   
It stopped as the source of its pain disappeared. It fell as the red bot dropped to the floor limply beside it, and then gentle hands picked it up.   
  
Swirling eyes looked down into its eyes. "I said you were cute, and I did warn him once," the owner of the multicolored eyes said mildly. "I never give more than one warning."   
  
* * * * *  
  
Rhinox frowned at his display. "This can't be right..."   
  
"What?" Optimus came over and looked at the computer screen. It showed different parts, but no whole body. "What is this?"   
  
"That's supposedly Overdose, but..." Rhinox shook his head. "Let me try again."   
  
"Dudes, like, stop it!"   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose crept into the back of the shop through a window. She stopped suddenly as she noticed him. Somebody was doing inventory on the stock, but it wasn't Knick-Knack. A new bot? Knick-Knack wouldn't hire someone else without telling his regulars, would he?   
  
The femme jumped, landing silently behind the unknown bot. Her arm snaked around his neck, and blades slid out of their sheathes along it, grazing the bot's neck. "Where's Knick-Knack?" she whispered into his audios.   
  
"Who are you?" the other hissed back at her. "I'm not giving that information out to strangers!"   
  
She considered that. It was a reasonable question. "I'm called Overdose."   
  
The bot immediately stiffened and shivered. "N-not THE Overdose?" he asked with a noticeable tremor in his voice. Now that she thought to check, she could tell that he was fairly young. Easily scared by rumors, perhaps? Then again, the rumors had proven true, and true again...   
  
A wicked smile settled on her face. "No one else would dare claim my name, now would they?" Not after that creep who tried to swindle someone with her name. She had taught him never to do that again...permanently. The blades along her arm dug a little into the bot's neck. "Where's Knick-Knack?" she demanded. "I need to talk to him."   
  
"H-he's had to go away for a little while," he choked out. "He put me in charge for now."   
  
"How can I trust you?" Overdose crooned quietly. "What proof can you give me?"   
  
The transformer shivered again. "I d-don't have any proof. Knick-Knack said I wouldn't n-need any!" his voice rose with fear on the last words. "I was supposed to sell some stuff to certain people, that was all!"   
  
"Hmm..." Overdose thought quickly, her chaotic mind struggling to focus on one thing. Her free hand absently traced the edges of her captive's helmet while he tried to stay still. She came to a decision. "Do you have access to Knick-Knack's poisons?"   
  
"Yeah." The bot swallowed hard. "But I'd need at least until closing time to get at them."   
  
"Very well." Overdose's blades slid back into her arm, and she was up the wall and through the window before the bot had time to turn. "I'll be in touch...sometime."   
  
* * * * *  
  
Bob considered his options and went with the one that would get the fastest results. The probes and scans the Maximals were trying to inflict on Overdose weren't harmful, their Maximal morals wouldn't allow that, but they were against the dudette's wishes. Bob couldn't allow that.   
  
Follow the connection to the CR Chamber. Its connections led to the main computer. Follow that connection to the section of the computer the Maximal was working on. Search through the connections leading from there, find the main power feed, and... *Fzzt!*   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose lay on the floor, stroking the organic pet. The thing rolled over so she had access to its tummy, which it obviously wanted her to scratch. It had grown to like her over the passage of time as it had grown from the youngling it had been to the adult it was now.   
  
She had named it 'Goomba' for no reason in particular. Its face was fascinating, with the vertical slit for a mouth, strangely tattered ears, wide emerald eyes, and those clumpy whisker things that sometimes covered its mouth. The rest of it resembled a Terran housecat, except for the fact it was now almost 6 times the size of one...   
  
The femme tickled Goomba's stomach, smiling as it squirmed around under her hand in a search for the perfect spot. It occurred to her that there was something else she should be thinking of at the moment. Something in this very room? But what? She was safe in one of her hidden hide-outs. No one could find her here, not even one of those pesky officers the Predacon Secret Police kept sending after her. Especially not the most recent one, who had made the mistake of attempting to arrest her. She had fixed HIM, though! In fact, she was still--oh.   
  
Overdose looked over her shoulder at the other side of the room, where a low table stood. A large transformer was strapped onto it. His coloration might have been a dark blue at one time, but the acid she had idly painted him with yesterday had burned the color, and most of the armored skin underneath, off. She petted Goomba one last time and stood up.   
  
The bot watched her slowly walk towards him, and only the gag on his voice box prevented him from screaming with terror and pain. Overdose bent over him, savoring the agony he was feeling as she leaned her elbows on his corroded armor. She poked a finger into his chest.   
  
"I have some experiments I wanted to try on a spark," she said cheerily. "Do you want to help me?"   
  
The PSP officer shook his head frantically.   
  
She pouted sadly. "Aw, that's too bad." Then her mood switched back to happy. "Now I'll just have to do them WITHOUT your cooperation!"   
  
* * * * *  
  
Rhinox slammed his hand down on the computer. "Blast!" he yelled. The computer stayed powerless. "I don't know how it happened, but the power conduit was fried!"   
  
Optimus looked at the CR Chamber. "Is there any possibility that..."   
  
"I don't think so," Rhinox grumbled. "She's still offline. More likely, Bob did it somehow." He studied the plain gray computer. "If we could just unhook, er, him for a little while, I could do the scans."   
  
The Maximal leader shook his head. "Overdose wanted him there." He sighed. "I guess we'll just have to live without knowing more about her. Or maybe we could just ask her!"   
  
* * * * *  
  
"Hello?"   
  
Overdose stayed in the shadows as the bot came down the alley. She had left Goomba behind for today. She was training it to fetch things for her, but this deal had to be made face to face, so it had stayed behind in her hide-out.   
  
"Hello?" the bot called again. This was the same transformer that had taken over the shop from Knick-Knack. The word on the street was that he could be trusted, so Overdose had arranged a meeting. To her surprise, he had actually agreed to her meeting place, a small alley in the old part of the city. He must have wanted to meet her badly...   
  
"I'm here," she said softly. The bot immediately turned to where her voice had come from, but he paused in confusion when he couldn't see her. She smiled to herself and let the colors of her surroundings go. Her normal armor patterns reappeared, giving her the appearance of melting out of the shadows. Well, with her color scheme it was more like BURSTING out of the shadows. The other transformer jumped back in surprise.   
  
"O-Overdose!" the bot said nervously. "What a, um, pleasure to finally meet with you under, ah, more pleasant circumstances!"   
  
She shrugged. "Whatever. Did you bring it?"   
  
He nodded. "One vial of Knick-Knack's homemade poison." He tossed it to her when she held out her hand. She inspected it and nodded. She started to turn away. "What about my payment?" he asked more confidently.   
  
Overdose gave him a curious look. "I'll pay the same way I always pay. If Knick-Knack didn't tell you how I pay, too bad." With that, she disappeared again, blending with the shadows.   
  
* * * * *  
  
The CR Chamber opened, revealing Overdose. She blinked confusedly at the waiting Maximal, her mind still half in the past.   
  
Optimus started talking as she hesitantly walked out. "Overdose, you have to choose a faction to be in," he said firmly. He went on to explain what might happen if time was changed, and how Megatron wanted to destroy the original Optimus Prime. She just stood there through his speech, staring up at him with a blank look on her face. Even her fins were in muted colors.   
  
* * * * *  
  
She whipped around as the bot yelled in alarm. PSP officers were pouring down the alley towards him. They couldn't see her, but they obviously were going to arrest the shop dealer. He turned and ran, despite their calls to stop. That practically guaranteed they'd shoot to kill if he didn't surrender first.   
Cursing under her breath, she snatched at him as he went past and clasped him close to herself. He started to shout again, but her slap stopped him. Her camouflaged body was blocking the PSP officers' view of him, and they slowed their pursuit of him cautiously. Exactly as she had wanted.   
  
"Stay still," she barely breathed to the bot who was trembling in her arms. She triggered the remote for the pulley on the top of the building they were against, and the cord tied around her waist began to very slowly pull them upwards. Her armor shifted as they moved to match the building's surface. Very, very slowly...only a little more...   
  
Overdose turned the bot around until he faced the wall, and he grabbed onto the top so he could pull himself up. Below them, a PSP officer flicked a glance upwards as he thought he heard a slight sound. From below, Overdose's camouflage didn't conceal the other bot, and the officer spotted him climbing onto the roof.   
  
The first shots barely missed as she lunged onto the roof after him, cutting the cord around her waist as she went. She laughed with excitement as they ran to the other side of the roof and looked down. There was a straight drop where the street dropped into the lower levels of the city. They couldn't even see the bottom, only darkness. It was a long way down. No one could possibly survive it.   
  
A scrape came from the side of the building behind them. The PSP were coming up after them!   
The bot turned to her. "What now?!" he asked nervously. "Do we surrender?!" He was starting to panic.   
  
Overdose smiled, loving the thrill of the chase and the craziness of the plan in her head. "By the Pit, no!" she said exuberantly. "Now we jump!" She shoved him off the roof and dove after him. They fell into the darkness together.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose looked straight at the Maximal leader as he finished speaking. "And what about Rampage?" she asked sadly. "What happens to him if you win this war?"   
  
There was an awkward silence.   
  
"Blackarachnia was right," Overdose said. She bent to pick up Bob, disconnecting him from the CR Chamber. "I don't really belong with either faction." A drab color change went through her fins, giving her a depressed look.   
  
"So what will you do?" Primal asked.   
  
She seemed to consider that seriously for a moment, but then she giggled crazily, her eyes swirling with neon light. "Oh, maybe I'll join the Maximals AND the Predacons!" she told him with a loony smile. "You know, sort of a 'I'll be a Maximal by day and a Predacon by night' kind of thing. Would that work?" She looked up at him earnestly.   
  
She actually seemed to think it might work. Optimus sighed. "Megatron wouldn't accept it," he told her. "I would...have to think about it."   
  
"Don't hurt yourself," Overdose commented merrily. "Now, which way is the way out of here?"   
  
* * * * *  
  
The bot was screaming, but Overdose calmly judged distances and timing. When she felt it was right, she transformed and swooped under the falling transformer. He hit her back with a thud.   
  
"You owe me," she said.   
  
"Y-yeah," he said dazedly.   
  
She silently glided into the lower levels, following the street and eventually landing on it when she felt they were far enough away. She coasted to a stop and transformed again. Overdose stretched and laughed again as the tension from the pursuit drained away.   
  
The bot stepped away from her in disbelief. "You enjoyed that?"   
  
"Yep." She smiled at him and then turned to walk away.   
  
"Wait!" he yelled, chasing after her. "Thank you for helping me," he said when she turned around. "Just for that..." he held out another vial, almost identical to the one she had bought earlier. "A token of appreciation for such a pretty bot."   
  
She eyed it warily, something about the situation ringing warning bells in her head. But...he had called her pretty. No one had ever done that before. She decided to trust the bot. After all, she had just saved his life! She reached out, ignoring her cautious instincts.   
  
One more crazy decision. One more risk. But this time her luck ran out...   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose soared through the sky, trying to figure out where the Predacon base was. She wanted to see what the purple guy thought of her idea. She looped down through the clouds again, trying to get her bearings, and, oh, there it was! Gloom and doom kind of place, really...   
  
She landed nearby, knowing there were autoguns and other such nasty surprises lurking in the area, but not caring. They wouldn't be able to pick her energy signature up, anyway.   
  
Overdose willed her fins to stop mirroring her emotions, and then she crept towards the base, blending into her surroundings. There was someone marching around outside. It was the ant, Inferno, dedicated as always. She simply waited until he turned away for an instant, and then she was inside.   
  
There was shouting coming from farther in the base, so she looked for the source. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but what about the sea slug? Her distracted mind wasn't helping her be very cautious, though.   
  
The past was haunting her...   
  
* * * * *  
  
She glared through the glowing bars at the smug bot. "You betrayed me," she stated flatly. None of her normal colors were present in her eyes or armor, and the chaos of her mind was gone, replaced by cold purpose.   
  
He flinched at her voice, some of his smugness disappearing. He regained his smirk after a moment, however. "What can I say?" he asked with a supposedly casual shrug. "I'm a good actor, and you were gullible." He acted careless around her, but she saw through the act to his nervousness.   
  
It had been a trap, pure and simply put. "What happened to Knick-Knack?" she hissed. That was where this had begun, in the missing bot's shop.   
  
He shrugged again. "We," by that he meant the Predacon Secret Police, "removed him and took over his operation in order to find some of the known criminals he supplied. Oh, and thank you, by the way," he added. "I was actually assigned to Goldlight's," he named a small-time killer, "case, but catching you is getting me all the right attention. I might even get a promotion!"   
  
"How nice," she purred after a moment of staring that made him shift uncomfortably. "Enjoy your promotion while you can, then," she continued. "Because I'll make you regret being alive when I finally hunt you down. And I'll find you," she assured him with a vicious smile. "No matter how long it takes, no matter where you go."   
  
A click from the door to the cell informed her visitor that his time was up, and he retreated towards it, backing away from her like she could kill him through the bars. Who knows? She had already gotten a couple guards that way with some concealed weapons.   
  
Her smile grew. "Remember; you can run, but you can't run forever. You can hide, but you'll never be safe." He scrambled out the door, no longer even trying to hide his fear as she threw her head back and screamed with laughter.   
  
"Let the hunt begin!"   
  
* * * * *  
  
*Ding!*   
  
Overdose sat down right where she was, in a ventilation shaft. She didn't care if anyone found her, and the shouting coming from the area up ahead didn't seem like it would end anytime soon. Plenty of time to fill out a questionnaire and eat more drugs!   
  
She loved the new emotions and sensations that came over her when she was dosed with something. The experimental drugs just made it better since she didn't know what would happen. An eternal guessing game, with changes in her body and mind as the consequences. Gorging on the pills just made it even more fun!   
  
Better yet, some of the drugs made her forget. Many helped her not care about her life or the people around her. Some made the present blur with the past, or just made the present shift in different directions. She didn't care; she liked it. The future was a blur, anyway, why shouldn't the past and present be just like it? Always a surprise, her life!   
  
* * * * *  
  
She smirked at the femme across from her through the cell bars. The brownish transformer grinned back at her and silently counted out loud with her. At 'three', they pulled the tripwire tight, sending the pacing guard stumbling.   
  
They laughed at his enraged yelling.   
  
He growled at them, but sneered at the other femme in particular. "You're next, you slaggin' thief." With that, he continued with his rounds.   
  
Overdose looked at Shadowcall sadly. "You're going?" she asked softly.   
  
Shadowcall sighed. "Yeah." She made a face. "The judge will probably stick me with colony duty." At Overdose's puzzled look, she elaborated. "They send you out to a new colony to set everything up for the people coming after you. I suppose I could stay if I wanted." She looked thoughtful. "Yeah, that could be good. A new life, a new home," a sly grin crossed her narrow face, "people who don't KNOW I'm a thief..."   
  
Overdose laughed with relief. "I knew you couldn't be turning goody-goody!" Her laughter died quickly. "But...I don't want to lose you." They had lived through the prison term before their trials together. They had grown close, in their own ways.   
  
Shadowcall shrugged. "Well, I don't know any real way to keep in touch. It'd be ultra gear if you could come see me, but being prison-buddies probably wouldn't put you in good standing with those innocent little colonists--"   
  
"Hey!" Overdose interrupted. "How about being sisters?"   
  
"Huh?"   
  
"You know," she said impatiently. "It's one of those organic customs, where two femmes who are really close team up, or something like that." She blinked. "Um, yeah, something like that."   
  
"Oh." Shadowcall considered that. "That sounds good. Sisters it is!" A clang came from the end of the prison block, and the femme stared down the corridor at the guards marching towards them. "Well, I guess I have to leave."   
  
The guards reached her cell, and she let her hands be bound. Two guards took her by the elbows, and they started on Shadowcall's journey to court.   
  
"Send me a postcard!" Overdose yelled after her.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose poked her head into the room where Rampage and Megatron were arguing and grinned.   
  
"She's uncontrollable!" Rampage was shouting.   
  
Megatron threw his throne around until he was above him and glared down at the crab. "You had better START controlling her, yesss, or I'll be forced to destroy her!"   
  
"That's not very nice," Overdose commented. She smiled when they both whirled to face her, their faces slack with shock. Her vision was starting to haze around the edges, but she didn't let that bother her as she bounced into the room. "I'm not uncontrollable, Rampage," she said cheerfully. "I'm crazy!"   
  
"Um, right."   
  
Megatron shook himself out of his stunned silence. "How did you get into the base without setting off the perimeter alarms?" he demanded to know.   
  
"Don't ask," Rampage said quickly.   
  
Megatron scowled. "I don't appreciate you contradicting me, nooo." He slammed his hand down on his throne. "Dinobot! Report to me at once!" Rampage snarled at him.   
  
Overdose stuck her hand in the air and waved it. "I've got a question!" she said earnestly. She waved her arm around, ignoring the strange fuzziness that was invading her vision. Flashes of...memories?... were in that mist, and it was slowly taking over her sight...   
  
Megatron sighed. "Yes?"   
  
"Could I be a Predacon at night and a Maximal during the day?" she asked with a proud smile. "Then you guys wouldn't have to fight over me! Optimus already said he'd think about it, so what do you say? And what about you, Rampage? Wouldn't that be neat?" Only a small area was still in focus, now. The rest was in a fog, but the edges of the fog were clearing now. But...that wasn't THIS room, was it?   
  
"Uh..." Megatron was shocked again, but he had a canny mind. "Perhaps if you brought something to...earn...your way into the Predacons," he said slowly, hoping that she would take the hint. If Overdose would bring him Maximal secrets, or even, just possibly, a captured Maximal, she would be welcome in his faction, craziness or not!   
  
"Oh. Okay." She blinked, but when she opened her eyes, Megatron wasn't there anymore. Neither was Rampage. Only the mist, with the clear image of another room filling her eyes...   
  
Dinobot stormed into the room and up to Megatron. "Yes?" Megatron smiled viscously. "If you would be so kind as to teach Rampage a lesson?"   
  
The last traces of fog disappeared, and the three figures in the room came into focus for Overdose. Or at least partially into focus, since the single lamp over their heads didn't show her much from where she stood in the light.   
  
She shrieked in anger.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Three red transformers, shrouded in mystery and danger. The notorious Tripedicus Council, in whose secret prison Overdose had been confined until now.   
  
"You could be of great use to us," one of them said to her. "Just pledge your loyalty."   
  
"Vow to serve us against the Maximals," another said.   
  
"No, I don't wanna," she giggled. "You look so funny!"   
  
The last transformer snorted in disgust. "Take this freak away, to the labs," he ordered the guards. He looked at her again. "We will control you, with or without your consent."   
  
"No." Colors ran like water from her armor and eyes, draining away to leave only blackness. Petty things like emotions left with the colors, revealing the insanely cold killer underneath.   
  
The Tripedicus Council didn't notice. "Bring out the next--"   
  
"I said: no."   
  
Only now did they turn towards her again as she launched herself at them, calculating as she moved how to strike to kill and maim. The bonds around her wrists separated as her metallic skin electrified, shorting them out. Guards poured into the room between the Council and her, and she snarled in crazed fury that only aided in her fighting.   
  
She howled in rage and joy, sorrow and celebration, as what lived beneath her surface looniness reared her deadly head...   
  
* * * * *  
  
Dinobot was distracted from Megatron's order as a scream of anger came from the colorful femme standing along one side of the room. Or rather, the once-colorful femme. Pure, dull black had replaced the multicolored swirls and patterns.   
  
Rampage gasped and drew back from the other two Predacons. "Overdose...don't..." he said in a strangled voice. He wasn't afraid, but he wasn't stupid, either. After all, he didn't REALLY know if he was immortal...   
  
The femme reached down to her flame-colored boots and drew two daggers, one a long, slim stiletto, the other shorter and jagged, made for ripping. A strangely calm look was on her face. No, more of a dead look, like the crazy personality that had been present in Overdose so far had bled out of her.   
  
It scared Megatron. No one he had ever encountered had looked like that. Except for her scream of fury, she seemed...empty. Even Rampage showed some emotion while fighting, but Overdose--she looked like she could rip him open without a thought or a reason. Dinobot's thoughts weren't far behind his, and they both edged back from the femme, following Rampage's example unconsciously.   
  
The fear on their faces registered in Overdose's mind, triggering another memory that replaced the one before. She lowered her knives, a brief flash of confusion crossing her face as she found herself in a different place...   
  
* * * * *  
  
The cell she was thrown in was crowded, like most of the others in the prison. It was a maximum-security prison, so the prisoners couldn't be moved to a new building without it taking a long time to check the security measures and such. And so, the prisoners were crammed into the cells.   
  
The people in this cell were particularly nasty-looking: an organic being, green, with ragged red scars on three of its four arms; a hulking blue-and-yellow transformer with shifty optics; a small, thin femme openly wearing an energon blade, even in the prison. Overdose smiled at them all through the pleasant haze the sedatives had put her in. They exchanged a look between themselves and advanced in a coordinated movement to surround her. They were obviously up to no good.   
  
Then again, neither was Overdose.   
  
Despite the sedatives, she was still quicker than the others. She dodged to one side as the other femme lunged at her, slashing with her blade. Her hand struck the flat of the blade, turning it to strike the organic before the femme could react. The organic yelped and slid to the ground, a deep vertical slash from the knife bleeding its life out onto the cell floor. Overdose ignored that, instead swinging her hand down to the small of her own back, where she withdrew something from a small subspace pocket.   
  
When the other femme recovered her balance, she found herself facing the corner where Overdose had put her back to the wall in a precaution against the blue-and-yellow 'bot. He paced in front of her warily, watching this unexpectedly experienced transformer calmly work on something circular in her hand. Overdose looked up as the femme joined her cellmate, and a gently loony smile accompanied her underhand toss.   
  
The femme caught the thing she threw and didn't move. Neither did her cellmate. The blue energy field from the item had them paralyzed. Overdose giggled and moved closer, and their faces showed fear...   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose?" Rampage cautiously stepped closer to the femme. The black of her armor was broken up by the slow swirls of color curling through it, and he took that as a good sign. The fact that she was lowering her weapons was an even better one. "Are you okay?"   
  
Her head turned until she was looking straight at him instead of Dinobot and Megatron. The frantic motion of the colors in her eyes told him she was completely confused.   
  
Overdose turned towards the 'bot who had called her name, and her world reeled again. "Goomba-boy?" she asked uncertainly. Wide emerald eyes, a vertical mouth, and ragged ears...and no fear on his face. The resemblance to her pet was stunning.   
  
Rampage stopped short. "You haven't called me that in a long time."   
  
"What are you talking about? I haven't known you that long!" she protested. Another room. A prison cell? Yes, a prison cell. She had just met him...   
  
* * * * *  
  
"You might as well sit down," she told the 'bot standing up against the opposite wall. "I won't bite." She waited until he sat on the bottom bunk underneath her before adding, "For now."   
  
There was a startled rustle, and then he spoke. "What are you in for?"   
  
Overdose hung her head over the edge of the top bunk and looked down at him. "Guess." She tilted her head to one side as she studied him. "You don't fear me," she said thoughtfully.   
  
"So?" he asked gruffly. "You don't fear me, either!" From the way he said it, he didn't seem to like the idea that she didn't fear him.   
  
"Why should I?" she asked quietly.   
  
He sputtered. "I'm a mass murderer!" he finally got out. "I've killed hundreds and enjoyed it!"   
  
"Big deal. I've done that before, and it wasn't that fun after a while." He gave her a surprised look, and she returned it with an amused one. "I figured out that torturing one person at a time provides SO much more entertainment." That made him look uneasy...   
  
A guard banged on the cell door. "You had better behave, Overdose!" he yelled at her. With that, he took up a position next to the door. He must have been a rookie guard, because he stood in the exact textbook position recommended by his training.   
  
She eyed the distance between the guard and the bars. Unfortunately for the guard, he had taken up a position that was within her arm-reach...   
  
"That's really your name?"   
  
She reflexively nodded, still planning. "At least that's what I remember my name being," she added, her attention wandering back to her cellmate. She sized him up thoughtfully. "My memory isn't so great. What's yours, Goomba-boy?"   
  
"X." He openly studied her. "So...you like torture."   
  
"Yep." Overdose looked between the cell door and her cellmate. "Speaking of which..." she jerked her head towards the guard. "Want to have some fun, Goomba-boy?"   
  
He laughed softly. "Oh, yes. And my name is X."   
  
"Goomba-boy."   
  
"X."   
  
"Goomba-boy."   
  
* * * * *  
  
Rampage blinked. "Overdose, you've known me since prison."   
  
"I...I have?" Overdose held a hand to her forehead, barely missing her eyes with the dagger. "But how did we get here?" Her voice was soft with confusion and uncertainty.   
  
"The drug program, remember?" Rampage prompted her.   
  
Overdose shook her head violently, trying to remember. When she looked up, Rampage had moved and the room had changed again...   
  
* * * * *  
  
"You're not actually going to sign that thing, are you?" X slipped the datapad with the 'Happy Matrix Drug Co.' insignia on it out from under Overdose's hand. He read over the contract and frowned. "You'd never be able to kill anyone!"   
  
"I know," Overdose sighed. "But I'd be out of here," she gestured around the prison cell, "and back out there." She snagged the datapad out of his hand and read it over again. "Really, though, I'd like the drug testing." She considered for a moment more, and then she decided. "I don't always kill my victims," she mentioned absently as she signed the contract.   
  
X nodded. "But--"   
  
"Besides, I have business outside this place," she interrupted. Her armor briefly dulled to black, but she shook that off. "Old business."   
  
* * * * *  
  
"Oh."   
  
Megatron and Dinobot sighed with relief as the last traces of black faded from Overdose. That strangely frightening being was gone, replaced by the smiling rainbow child in front of them.   
  
Overdose looked at the daggers in her hands with a trace of surprise. "I don't remember getting these out...oh, well." She put them back in her boots.   
  
Rampage put a hand on her shoulder. "Overdose, are you really okay? You're kind of...out of it today." Concerned despite himself, he frowned down at the brightly-colored mop of fins on the top of her head. His view shifted to show her face as she raised her head to smile at him.   
  
The smile faltered and died. "I...I think I had better go." She tore loose from him and backed away, down the corridor.   
  
"What's wrong?" he called after her.   
  
"Everything!" she yelled back at him before turning and sprinting out of sight.   
  
Megatron came up beside him as Rampage stared after his friend. "I think you had better tell us more about Overdose."   
  
She ran out of the base and past the startled ant guarding the door. Inferno immediately attacked the femme, but she shifted to her vehicle mode and sped away, lifting into the air. The Predacon base's computer and defenses ignored her, or rather, they didn't even notice her. Her energy signature didn't register with them at all.   
  
Overdose glided towards her caves, and only the very edges of her fins trembled, showing her inner turmoil. Why was this happening? Why did everything she see seem like a memory? Sometimes the drugs were good, but sometimes she didn't like them!   
  
Another memory beckoned, but she struggled to stay in the present. When it grew too strong to resist, she surrendered with a soft moan. Rampage's face leaning over her flickered in her vision, but it wasn't HIS face anymore...   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose screamed in horror and fell to her knees, dropping her bag as her hands went numb. The automatic door had no pity and continued to slide open, revealing the rest of the skeleton. The sides and bottom of the door were ripped and torn by the claws in the paws of the bones, the legacy of the starving animal's desperate attempts to get out.   
  
"Goomba..."   
  
She reached out with a trembling hand and brushed the top of the skull, knowing that it was dead, but unable to make herself accept it. She had hidden her hide-out too well. When she had been tricked and captured, no one had been able to find it...or Goomba. Without her there to feed the pet, it had wasted away, slowly starving to death. While Overdose had been in her prison cell, it had been dying, dead, decaying, and had left only bones to greet its now-free owner.   
  
The shivering hand curled into a fist. One more thing a certain transformer had to pay for...   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose burst out of the water into the cave complex, liquid that hadn't all come from the ocean streaming down her face. She ran through the caves, recklessly throwing her belongs aside as she searched for one item among the hundreds. Crashes and bumps followed her as she went from cave to cave.   
  
Finally, when she had thrown aside a lampshade, she found it. She picked it up and stumbled to the cave that had been designated her resting room, tears of long-forgotten grief forming out of the excess moisture in her body and blurring her vision. He fins rippled in drab shades of brown and gray. She collapsed into her chair, curling up around the necklace, its claws scraping her hands. Raw sounds of pain forced their way out of her throat as she held onto the last remains of Goomba and mourned its death again...   
  
* * * * *  
  
Depth Charge cruised the ocean, looking for Overdose. He had apologies to make, possibly trust to rebuild. He had to bring that innocence back into Overdose's eyes. It wasn't much, but it would be one step in repairing the great wrongs he had done. Of course, he would have to FIND her first...   
  
* * * * *  
  
Rampage scuttled along the ocean floor, seeking his friend. After Megatron had finally been convinced he really DIDN'T know more about Overdose, the tyrant had reluctantly let him go. Rampage had immediately left to go look for Overdose.   
  
Something about how she had been acting didn't seem right, even for her. Going from the depths of killing rage to frightened confusion wasn't her normal craziness. If it was the drugs, he had to get her to a CR Tank before she was harmed. If it wasn't the drugs...he didn't know what he'd do.   
  
Concern for someone was a completely new feeling for the crab, and only Overdose seemed to be able to bring those type of emotions out in him. Well, Overdose and one other. But Transmutate was dead...   
  
* * * * *  
  
*Beep!* "Protoform X detected!"   
  
Depth Charge cursed as his computer informed him of Rampage's presence. Did he turn from his search to attempt to destroy the crab, or did he continue looking for Overdose? So far, neither mission had gotten any results. Rampage seemed to be immortal, and he hadn't even found a trace of the sea slug.   
  
But...Rampage HAD seemed to be Overdose's friend...wouldn't he know where she was?   
  
Depth Charge reluctantly thought over the idea and just as reluctantly turned and swam towards Rampage's location. The crab probably wouldn't help out of sympathy, but he might help out of glee at seeing his enemy humbled.   
  
And if he didn't, well, the ray-bot could still attack him.   
  
* * * * * 


	2. Part 2

Part Two  
  
Half-closed eyes swirled with muted colors.   
  
"Bob?" Overdose whispered. She dragged the gray rectangle out of her sub-space compartment. "Bob?"   
  
"Dudette?"   
  
"I need--huh? When did you start calling me dudette?" She gave the computer a puzzled glare, her eyes flaring for a moment with jewel tones.   
  
"Like, the Maximal dudes, like, pointed out that you aren't, like, a dude."   
  
"Um, right." She shook her head. "Nevermind. Can you tap into the Maximal and Predacons computers through their radios?" She shifted slightly in her seat, still curled up around the clawed necklace.   
  
"Like, yeah. It'll take, like, some time, though."   
  
"Time..." Overdose laughed bitterly. "We all need some time, I think."   
  
"Dudette?"   
  
She blinked and sighed. "Take as much time as you need, Bob. Run the standard searches, and everything, and tell me if you find anything."   
  
"Like, okay."   
  
Overdose turned her head away from where the computer sat and stared at the upholstery on the chair. Time. Yes, she had plenty of that. She had LIVED plenty of that. Her memory may not have been that great, but she remembered flashes of her life.   
  
Sometimes...sometimes she almost remembered who she had been...   
  
Shuddering, Overdose deliberately turned her thoughts from her past. Unfortunately for her, IT didn't seem to want to leave HER alone. The upholstery on the chair reminded her of something, and the memory made the present disappear...   
  
* * * * *  
  
She stared at the seat she was sitting on, carefully not looking across the aisle at the 'bot sitting there. With her armor carefully arranged into a completely bland and NORMAL pattern, he didn't notice her. He took the public transportation every night, to and from his workplace. She had been watching, so she knew.   
  
Overdose also knew where this particular 'bot worked.   
  
When the last of the transformers boarding on this particular automated vehicle got on, it lurched into motion, a pre-programmed route in its computer telling it where to got to get to the next stop. Overdose noticed an elderly 'bot with rust forming at his joints looking for an empty seat without success. She got up.   
  
"You can sit here, sir," she said in a soft voice. The transformer gratefully smiled and sat down, and she moved across the aisle to where HE was sitting. She grabbed the bar along the ceiling made for those who stood up on the vehicle, and didn't even looked at him.   
  
But she didn't need to. She had been studying the compact, brown-and-green-colored Stopgate for long enough that she didn't NEED to look at him anymore. Stopgate, the middle-management bureaucrat who lived in an apartment complex at the edges of the city. His neighbors liked him, although they thought he was a little boring, and thought he worked at some big company doing payroll. They were almost right.   
Stopgate DID work for a big company, and he DID do payroll. He really wasn't that boring, though. The people who worked for the Predacon Secret Police usually weren't.   
  
He started as something pricked his side as Overdose shifted. He started to move away from the discomfort, but her hand on his shoulder stopped him. The other passengers probably saw the move merely as a friend greeting a friend, but that hand held him to his seat in a grip of steel.   
  
"Don't move, or you'll have a syringe full of mercury running around in your body," Overdose muttered to him, all the while smiling like she had just met an old friend.   
  
Stopgate froze at the mention of the deadly poison. It took more of the metal to kill a transformer, but the result was ultimately the same as if a human had been injected with it: death. At the very least, mercury would make his systems go crazy. Either way, he wanted to avoid getting injected.   
  
"I need some information," she said quietly, "and you're going to give it to me."   
  
"Not a chance in the Inferno," he hissed back, and then gasped slightly as the pinprick turned into a sting. "Alright!" he yelped, muffling it at the last minute.   
  
"Good." Overdose nodded pleasantly. No one in the public transportation vehicle noticed anything wrong. "Where is Eightline?"   
  
"I don't kn--" Stopgate gasped as he felt something go into him from the sting that marked where the syringe was.   
  
"That's a warning," Overdose said mildly. "I never give more than one."   
  
He shivered. "I really don't know," he said quickly. "Wait! Let me explain!" He tensely waited for more of the mercury to enter into him, but went on when nothing happened. "The Council pulled him out of the ranks for something special. I don't know where he is because I don't finance him anymore. If you come back later, I might know..." He hopefully waited to see if this femme would take the bait. If she came back later, the PSP would have a trap waiting, and he might be able to save his job...and life. Giving away PSP secrets was worth his life if anyone found out.   
  
Overdose considered, but only withdrew the syringe. "Thank you for your cooperation." The vehicle slid to a stop at its next stop, an isolated area. Overdose was the only one getting off. She gave one last smile to Stopgate and headed for the exit.   
  
Once there, she turned and looked back, letting her armor go into a full explosion of color. Everyone on board immediately snapped their attention to her, and Stopgate's jaw sagged as he realized who she was and why she had wanted to know where one Lieutenant Eightline was located. She laughed and pointed to him, the passengers automatically following her lead in looking straight at him.   
  
"He works for the Predacon Secret Police," she said calmly, and because she sounded so sure of herself, the passengers believed her. The PSP was not a popular organization. A lot of people in the slums of cities like this one had lost friends to it. As Overdose stepped off the bus, she saw the old 'bot she had given her seat to lunging across the aisle at Stopgate. He was the first of a wave of enraged transformers.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose angrily shook the memory off. She never HAD found Eightline. "Bob, knock me out."   
  
"Dudette?"   
  
"I said, knock me out. Offline," she clarified. She placed her hand on him. "Now, Bob." There was a hesitant pause, and then an energy surge covered her, shocking her offline.   
  
"Dudette?" No response came, and Bob went back to hacking into the Predacon and Maximal files. And one other set of files, that was separate from the rest, but tied into the communication radios of the Predacons. The files were located far away from either Maximal or Predacon bases, so Bob decided to open them last.   
  
Beside him, slumped over in her chair, Overdose hadn't found release from her memories offline. Instead, they had merely been reduced to strange flashes. Different times, different people, different places...and mixed throughout the memories, forgotten flashes from a different life.   
  
* * * * *  
  
She knocked his hand away from their fellow prisoner's spark. "No, no, no," she chided him. "We can still have more fun." She pointed at the prisoner's legs, which she had been working on. The exposed ends of his nerve wiring poked up into the air.   
  
X laughed. "You ARE good at this," he said admiringly.   
  
* * * * *  
  
A slim stiletto, so small and needle-like. Overdose contemplated it as she waited above the bedroom doorway. When it opened, she immediately drove the fragile-seeming weapon down without hesitation, killing the human organic, someone called the 'World Leader', instantly.   
  
She flipped off the door mantle and vanished down the newly-opened door in the wall. She had been paid well for this night's work. What did she care that she left chaos in her wake?   
  
* * * * *  
  
She dipped and whirled, dancing freely. Every eye in the room was locked on her as she spun and leaped, and she almost laughed out loud. Humans. Only they would pay to see Cybertronians dance and wait tables, and pay well.   
  
An exotic dance bar, is what they called places like this, she mused. Certainly exotic. The owners of the place hired beings from all around the known galaxy, including her. She didn't mind. She liked dancing, and if males, even human males, wanted to stare at her body while she did, she didn't care. It wasn't like she had clothes to take off, and the wages were great.   
  
And the tips! She ended her dance looking slightly over her shoulder at the audience, and they broke into enthusiastic applause, showering the stage with money. Among them she knew there were notes asking for private sessions with her later, but she wouldn't accept. She wasn't into bi-racial.   
  
* * * * *  
  
"We know who you are," one of the three transformers said, his red armor blending with the other two's until she could barely tell them apart from where she stood in the shadows. "More importantly, we know WHAT you are."   
  
"Prove it," she breathed. The three turned, seeking the direction from which her voice came, but she had chosen the meeting place well. The buildings bounced her voice around.   
  
"How?" one of them asked.   
  
She closed her eyes briefly. "Tell me my name." Because she didn't know...   
  
* * * * *  
  
"And what exactly do you mean by that?" she demanded to know.   
  
Blacklight smiled down at her, his handsome features a little smug. "I mean, you're not the only one who spent a lot of time on Earth." With that, he lowered his mouth to hers in a tender, human kiss. She let him.   
  
* * * * *  
  
With no choice left, she dove into the shadows behind a heap of scrap metal. She was as obvious as could be, she thought resignedly, looking down at the deep blue of her arms. But they had changed. She couldn't see them...   
  
She froze as her pursuers glanced down the alley, convinced that they were about to come in after her. But their eyes passed over her, and they went on.   
  
She looked down at where her arms should have been, and flexed her hands. She barely saw them before the colors and patterns rearranged, blending into her surroundings. When had she gotten THIS ability?!  
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose stepped over the dead guards and looked around. The place was in shambles, but the guards had done their job. The Tripedicus Council had gotten away.   
  
She heard the whine of laser weapons powering up, and she turned around quickly. Another couple squads of guards stood there, weapons trained on her.   
  
"Give up, Overdose! Surrender!"   
  
She didn't have a chance. Overdose grinned. Her favorite odds!   
  
* * * * *  
  
But the words on the screen told her those answers, and then went beyond that into the realm of things she didn't want to know. They gave her information, plain and simple. Her eyes stared in horror, and then drifted to the top of the screen, where the document name was. She recognized it for what it was: her diary.   
  
* * * * *  
  
"You didn't have to hit it," Overdose grumbled, cuddling Hike closer. Hike, one of the techno-vermin that infested the prison, bared its foot-long teeth at the other inhabitant of the cell, who was examining the slashes on his arm.   
  
"Yes, I did," X said, just as grouchily as her. He waved his arm at her. "Look what that...that THING did!" She stuck her tongue out at him, and he sighed in defeat. "I'll never understand why you keep adopting those things..."   
  
* * * * *  
  
She couldn't take it. She had done too much, and there was no one left to make amends to. But she could never make amends for what she had done. The street shifted, her perspective turned, and she let everything go.   
  
She took a step forward, falling into the depths of insanity.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Depth Charge steeled his resolve and swam around the rock. There, up ahead, was Rampage, walking along the ocean floor in his crab mode.   
  
"Rampage!" the ray shouted.   
  
The crab jumped in surprise and transformed in the same move, landing on his feet facing Depth Charge. He immediately braced for combat, looking more irritated than happy at the thought of a fight. "I'm a bit busy, Fish Face," Rampage grumbled. He seemed slightly confused when Depth Charge stayed in his beast mode instead of attacking him. "Well?" he said impatiently, drawing his missile launcher.   
  
"I...need to talk to you," the ray said slowly, watching the weapon warily.   
  
"Talk to me?!" Rampage stared at him in shock. "You?!"   
  
Well, THIS was an uncomfortable situation... "Yeah."   
  
"About what?" the Predacon asked suspiciously.   
  
"Overdose. I want to," he lowered his voice to a barely audible mumble, "to apologize to her."   
  
Sound carried well underwater. Rampage heard him. "You're not going NEAR her again," the crab snarled. "I don't care if you want to kiss her fe--" A scream cut him off.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose tumbled into the water still screaming, the pain and fear of the old memories stabbing into her. She transformed, her fins waving wildly as color washed through them frantically. Her shrieks rippled through the water, carrying beyond the cave complex, but she didn't care.   
  
She swam in circles, hoping that the physical exertion would dull the pain. It didn't work. In fact, it got worse.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Rampage whipped around, recognizing the voice and the pain/fear behind it. He tried to pinpoint the direction it was coming from, but the scream ended before he could. He cursed, and then realized who was behind him and cursed some more. When he turned around, however, Depth Charge was looking off to the side.   
  
"That way," the ray said quietly.   
  
Rampage stared at him. Did he trust his worst enemy (after pickles, that is), or did he fire on him? The Maximal was still in his beast mode, and Rampage still had his missile launcher out. The crab was torn. Depth Charge had injured Overdose before, but he had been trying to hit Rampage. Would the Maximal injure her in the crossfire again?   
  
Transmutate's death had been like that. But if they didn't start fighting, there wouldn't be the risk of Overdose being hurt. And if they fought, Overdose WOULD get hurt. She was hurting right now, if her scream had been any indication. Her pain might get worse if Rampage didn't act now to find her.   
  
He nodded fractionally and transformed to his beast mode. "Let's go."   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose hauled herself back up into the caves, still shrieking as the pain from her mental wounds cut into her. She stumbled forward, clutching her head. Sanity was fighting to return, trying to make her sort out the mess of her mind and memories. It was gradually working, forcing her to remember.   
  
Each revealed memory was a slash through her fragile shell of craziness, the dark side of her fighting to get out, to kill, to destroy. Three lives: one a dark destroyer, one created out of amnesia and experiments, the current one saving those around her through her insanity. The irony was that the last one was the ONLY one that was insane. Cold logic ruled the first, the second might have become someone normal if left to herself.   
  
She had left those lives behind! She wasn't them anymore! She was Overdose! She had friends...didn't she?   
  
The dark side fought nastily, snatching away memories that might have comforted her and presenting other ones: Shadowcall, her body in the morgue, on her way to the recycling plant after the transformer known as Protoform X had gone on a rampage; Goomba's skeleton lying on the floor in front of her; Blacklight's lifeless form after one of the those blank periods she could never remember but the dark side of her DID; Streetshine killed by her own hand...   
  
Dozens, even hundreds of people, organic, robotic, even a couple psychics, all dead. Memories poured through her mangled mind: friends dying at her feet; pictures of their dead bodies sent to her by someone who knew that she had been friends with them; some killed by the government in search for her, some killed by her own hand; countless others dead in far away places, unknown by her until she tried to contact them.   
  
All your fault.   
  
"NO!" Not everyone was dead. X...Rampage was alive! He was here, on this planet! The widow, Blackarachnia, had been friendly! She wasn't dead!   
  
Not yet. But they'll die.   
  
"No!" The Predacons didn't like her because of what she had done to Dinobot, she had read that on Megatron's face. The Maximals wouldn't like her because she liked to torture people and she was Rampage's friend. Blackarachnia...she had just been making sure Overdose didn't join the Predacons. Rampage just liked her because she could outfight him. If she faltered, he'd kill her.   
  
Some friends.   
  
"No..." Her denial was a faint whisper now. Memories and thoughts filled her head. Darkness was claiming her, sanity returning. Her friends would die...because she would kill them.   
  
Who needs friends? They only weaken us.   
  
"...no..." She collapsed to her knees, and then to her side, curling up as she fought an inner war against herself.   
  
* * * * * 


	3. Part 3

Part Three  
  
Rampage stared at the rock formation. It looked familiar... "Wait!"   
  
Depth Charge paused, turning to look at him. "What?" he asked impatiently.   
  
The crab pointed with once of his claws towards the distant hulk of an island. "I think I know where she is."   
  
* * * * *  
  
The real world faded away as Overdose went offline. Instead, she was in a city. The street in front of her was abandoned. Behind her, she knew, there was an open doorway that she had just staggered out of. On the walkway to one side was a gold-and-blue transformer with a familiar face. Her face. She was turned away from Overdose, looking down the street with fear on her face.   
  
In front of her, walking down the street, was someone with pitch-black armor, but very little similarity to Overdose. She was taller, much taller, and blocky in a very old style of construction. The purple sign on her shoulder gave no doubt to what she was.   
  
So, this was to be the meeting place, the showdown. This street, where the nameless one had been given a choice, and Overdose had been born. The place where the destroyer in front of her should have died at last.   
  
"I greet you, Venom," Overdose said quietly, sadly. She lifted her arms and reached behind her back in front of her fins. When she drew them back, they held two blades; long, elegant daggers with hilts topped by colorful bunches of fins.   
  
"Overdose," Venom said briefly. A gigantic broad sword, its blade painted the same dull black as herself, was held easily in her hand. She cast a look down at the nameless transformer. "Little No-Name, stay out of our way. I'll get to you soon enough."   
  
The gold and blue robot's face displayed her fear quite clearly, but she wordlessly moved away, backing up against the buildings lining the street. She flattened herself there, watching the colorful and dark move towards each other slowly.   
  
* * * * *  
  
When Depth Charge and Rampage came to the tunnels, they knew they were in the right place. Brilliant paint still clung to the rock where it had been scraped off of Overdose's ship.   
  
Rampage groaned. "I can't fit into the tunnels!"   
  
The manta ray beside him swam down and tried to fit himself into an opening. He barely managed to pop through. When he was inside, he turned and looked back. "Where am I supposed to be looking for her?" he called to Rampage.   
  
The crab shrugged. "I don't have a clue. Just keep looking around until you see something."   
  
"I probably won't fit into some of the tunnels," Depth Charge said doubtfully. He started to glide off, but was jerked to a halt by a claw pinching closed on his tail. "Wha--"   
  
"If you hurt her again," Rampage said grimly, "I'll let HER kill you." With that, he let the ray go. Slightly bewildered, Depth Charge swam away through the tunnels.   
  
* * * * *  
  
There was a clash, bright colors meeting the absence of color. The colored one was thrown to the side, the nameless one sprinting aside to let her land against the building and fall to the ground.   
  
Overdose pressed one of her flame-colored gloves to her side, where Venom's broad sword had sliced into her. Strangely-colored mechfluid pulsed out between her fingers as she forced herself to her feet, gritting her teeth against the pain. She retrieved her daggers from the ground and glared defiantly at the advancing giant.   
  
Venom laughed, raising her sword again. "You have more courage than I thought," she commented sarcastically. "Not that it'll do you an good!" The dull black blade swept down towards the comparatively small transformer, who brandished her blades in a 'V' that caught it.   
  
The impact knocked the loony femme to her knees, and she screamed with intolerable pain from her side and straining arms. Venom pushed down, pressuring Overdose backwards. At the same time, she attacked with something much subtler than brute force. Both knew that Overdose's wound would prove fatal if given enough time, so Venom was in no hurry to win. Instead, she wanted her opponent to feel despair, to give up before the battle was definitely won.   
  
Memories surrounded them, the buildings turning into scenes from the past. Dead, dying, tortured, despairing; the memories showed things Overdose had tried to forget. She felt no regret for her torturing of hundreds of people, nor did she regret killing. But the innocents who had died when the Predacon Secret Police bombed the building she had been staying in? She remembered desperately digging for survivors, for her little pet kitten she had just gotten on Earth, knowing she didn't have much time before her enemies arrived and hating herself for fleeing the wreckage. People who had died fighting by her side, all hurtful, hating memories.   
  
All the memories pressed in around her, and Overdose faltered, her injury draining her strength no worse than the pain and tiredness that struck her suddenly. The dull black blade drew closer to her chest, and she had the desire to let it end her meaningless life. She fought against that lassitude, reaching out for the good and fun things she must have done. She couldn't reach them, and only her crazy stubbornness was keeping Venom's sword from piercing her.   
  
"You kill everyone around you, and you claim to be better than me?" Venom mocked, pressing her advantage. The colors swirling through Overdose's fins dimmed, fading gradually as her despair leeched away her will to live.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Depth Charge turned the corner into the tunnel...and it was a dead end.   
  
"Slag!" He made a tight turn in the narrow area, resigned to the fact that his fins were too wide to avoid scraping them along the walls. He had learned that by consistently ending up in dead ends like this. So he flinched as his fin headed towards the ceiling of the tunnel...   
  
...and then stared in surprise as it went through it. On the bit of fin that poked through the ceiling, he felt air!   
  
* * * * *  
  
The flash of blue and gold at the edge of her vision brought Overdose's attention to the side. The nameless transformer hovered there, standing at the edge of the memories as she anxiously watched the others. A slight flicker of color broke the darkening gray of Overdose's fins; a bit of hope broke through the despair.   
  
"Help me," she whispered.   
  
The other shook her head, terrified eyes locked on the towering Venom, who was laughing as she slowly pressed down on her sword.   
  
"Help me," Overdose pleaded. Together they might be able to defeat the titan. If they didn't stop Venom, she would take over their body and destroy anything she touched.   
  
They both knew it, but still the nameless 'bot withdrew into the shadows. She didn't believe she had the strength to fight against the darkness. Overdose might, but her strength was draining away. No hope. She couldn't act against Venom.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Depth Charge hauled himself out of the water into the darkness of a cave. Light blazed from other caves connected to this one, and he knew he had found Overdose's home.   
  
"Overdose?" he called. There was no answer, so he cautiously headed into the cave system, staring at the things he saw as he went.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Distantly, Depth Charge's voice was heard. "Overdose?"   
  
Venom's head snapped up from where her foe was almost flat against the ground now, still straining despite the fact that she didn't stand a chance. "Who--?"   
  
"Depth Charge," Overdose breathed. Memories that didn't hurt her pierced the miasma of self-hate around her, and Venom snarled in anger.   
  
"He tried to kill you!"   
  
"It was a mistake!" Overdose screamed back. Venom exerted her control over their surroundings, and Overdose didn't have the strength to counter the move. The memories that had given her hope disappeared, and she knew it would take something drastic to get them back.   
  
Drastic?   
  
Her eyes slid to the side, where the nameless one stood watching. It was a crazy idea. It would never work. She was insane to consider it.   
  
Exactly.   
  
"Help me!" Overdose demanded of the noncombatant.   
  
The nameless 'bot stepped forward, drawn by the command. She knew what Overdose wanted. How could she not, when they were so similar? And it would never work...would it? But it wasn't DIRECT action against Venom...   
  
The two locked eyes while Venom began laughing again at her imminent victory. Soon she would be free from the shell of insanity and amnesia. Soon she would spread her destruction again!   
  
Then she frowned and looked down at her foe. Overdose wasn't looking at her as she strained against the sword at her breast. Instead, she was... "NO!"   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose/nameless opened her eyes. "Depth Charge," she breathed. "Depth Charge!"   
  
"Overdose?!" There was the sound of running footsteps, and then the ray-bot looked into the cave. His eyes widened at the sight of the darkened fins on the still femme, but he came closer. "Over--"   
  
"Help me," she moaned.   
  
"What? How?" Depth Charge knelt next to where she was lying motionless in her chair. Only the shuddering waves of dulling color going through her fins and eyes indicated she was alive; her lips barely moved. "What's wrong?" he asked urgently. This wasn't the vibrantly alive femme he knew.   
  
"Lean closer," came the whisp of sound. The ray-bot hesitated, but he had to move closer just to hear her voice. "...closer..."   
  
* * * * *  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Venom shrieked angrily. She threw her full weight against the sword, no longer willing to delay the kill.   
  
Overdose deflected the attack to above her head with her daggers, pinning the very edge of one of her fins to the street as the sword buried itself in the ground. "Something YOU would never do," she gasped.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Depth Charge yelled in surprise as one of Overdose's arms shot up, cupping the back of his head in her hand. The yell was cut off abruptly as her arm flexed, dragging his head down...to meet hers.   
  
Her lips pressed to his mouth, and the ray-bot's attempt to jerk his head back ended as his eyes widened in shock. She was KISSING him?! That was a human custom! This was NOT something sane Cybertronians did!   
  
Just as suddenly, she went limp again, letting go of him. He stared at her, holding a hand to his mouth in stunned reaction.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Venom clutched her head, dropping her sword as something swept across the mental landscape, twisting the memory-screens and shattering her strength. The transformer fell to her knees in the suddenly missing street that was now simply a sheet of colors that constantly twisted and changed. "What...have you done?" she groaned.   
  
Overdose stood up, suddenly made whole and brilliant with restored colors. "Something insane, of course," she said cheerfully. "See, this is craziness," she gestured at their surroundings. "You're sane," she pointed at Venom. "Who do you think does better in crazy places? Me, of course. All I had to do was make myself loony inside AND outside! You tried to take away that possible advantage of mine by forcing me offline. I just had to find the strength to wake up and..." she giggled, "...be myself." Overdose turned away from the weakened destroyer to look at the gold and blue glint in the shadows. "Thank you," she said seriously.   
  
"Why?" Venom croaked at the nameless one. "I wouldn't have killed you!"   
  
She stepped forward, looking coldly at the darkness. "Liar. Remember, you are me, and I am you. You can't lie to yourself." She glanced at Overdose, who looked briefly sad as a shard of a memory drifted by, a dead friend in it. "You didn't lie when you said Overdose killed everyone around her, but you have your own definition of 'everyone', and she doesn't do that all the time. And you never mentioned all the GOOD things she's done."   
  
"Good?" Overdose asked curiously.   
  
"Good," the nameless one said firmly. "X would have killed a LOT more people if you hadn't taught him to enjoy torturing individual people so much."   
  
"Um." Overdose blinked. "That's good?"   
  
"Relatively."   
  
"Oh..."   
  
Venom was slowly using her sword to help her stand. The nameless transformer looked up at her and then back at Overdose. "Besides," she said heavily, guilt at things that weren't her fault but still were hammering at her, "craziness is still better than you, and I...I don't have the strength to fight you." With that, she turned and faded away into the shadows of insanity.   
  
Overdose looked after her. "Write me!" she yelled. She shrugged and turned back to Venom, studying the swaying giant consideringly. "I don't think I could kill you even if I wanted to," Overdose commented, "so I'll have to be more inventive. I suppose I can always go back to the tried-and-true method...after all, it's worked before." She smiled loonily as Venom howled in futile anger.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Depth Charge jumped back as Overdose arched her back and screamed. She promptly opened her eyes and looked around.   
  
"Over...Overdose?" the ray-bot asked tentatively. He kept his distance from her warily.  
  
She tilted her head and looked at him for a moment, but then twisted around and groped behind herself for something. Finding it, she plopped herself back down in the chair. Offering a smile at him, she contemplated the pill bottle. "Ah, drugs..."   
  
"Are you alright?"   
  
Overdose looked at him strangely. "Of course not. What kind of question is that?" She frowned suddenly and threw the pills back into the chaos of her room. "Hey, how did you find me?"   
  
How was he going to explain this? "Er," Depth Charge searched for words, "Rampage and I kinda--"  
  
"You and Rampage?!" Overdose bounced up and down in her seat. "I knew he'd find a boyfriend!" She clapped her hands excitedly. "This is so neat! Although I hadn't thought about him dating YOU," she said quite seriously.   
  
Depth Charge was staring at her. "I'm not Rampage's boyfriend..." he said confusedly.   
  
"Oh!" Overdose exclaimed happily. "You're his fiancée? When's the wedding?!"   
  
"WHAT?!"   
  
"Oh, lifebond, marriage, whatever," she said airily, bounding to her feet and grabbing his hand. "All the same to me! Now, c'mon! I bet I have some GREAT presents for you two!" She began dragging him out of the cave by his hand.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Rampage waiting anxiously, pacing impatiently. What was taking so long?!   
  
* * * * *  
  
Depth Charge couldn't get words past his bewilderment (Rampage? Gay?) until it was too late. Overdose had the idea in her head, and she wasn't willing to let it go.   
  
"...so we're not fighting just because we were both worried about you, okay?" the ray-bot explained again. "I have every intention of trying to kill Rampage, now."   
  
"Suuuure you are," Overdose said knowingly. "So where are you two going to honeymoon?"   
  
"We're not getting married!" he shouted.   
  
"Uh-huh," she said absently. "What do you think about this?" She held up a large blue-colored stone.   
  
He took it automatically, and then did a double-take. "Is this..? This is the Hope Diamond! It's been missing since the humans displayed it on Cybertron!" He stared incredulously at Overdose as she chuckled nervously. "Its theft is one of the greatest mysteries in the Earth/Cybertron Alliance..."   
  
"Uh, right." She snatched it back. "Let's just pretend you didn't see that..." Overdose carelessly tossed it off into the general clutter and started rummaging through it again. "How about--"   
  
"Why did you kiss me?" Depth Charge burst out, half in an effort to distract her and half because the question was driving him nuts. He stepped back as the colors throughout her fins dimmed slowly.   
  
"Because," she said shortly. Overdose stood still, staring at her hands. "Depth Charge..."   
  
"Yeah?" He eyed the steadily darkening shades in her fins. They stopped fading and leveled off at a dull gray.   
  
She turned to face him, her face haunted. "Do you trust me?"   
  
The Maximal squirmed uncomfortably. Did he tell her the truth? He tried to distract her again. "Overdose, I'm really sorry about what happened before--"   
  
"I forgive you. Do you trust me?" she asked again.   
  
Depth Charge sighed. He couldn't lie to her. Not again. "No," he answered faintly but bluntly. "I don't."   
  
Her eyes were shadowed as she looked at him. "Good. You should never trust me."   
  
There was a beep, and the silent rectangle on the floor was silent no more. Bells and whistles filled the air. Bob had sorted through the Maximal and Predacon files and had finally gotten around to scanning that isolated batch of files. What he had found there set off all his alarm signals. "Like, dudette!"   
  
The colors burst back into life as Overdose whirled to face her computer. Bob was programmed only to be that noisy when he had found something in his hacking. Was Shadowcall really alive? Was the Tripedicus Council coming after her again? Had her specially-ordered Chia Pet finally arrived? "What is it, Bob?!"   
  
"Lieutenant Eightline is on this planet!"   
  
* * * * * 


	4. Part 4

Part Four  
  
"What?" Overdose's disbelieving whisper showed her shock as she stared at her computer.   
  
"Lieutenant Ei--"   
  
She waved her hand. "I heard you the first time, Bob. Just...gimme a moment." Overdose collapsed where she stood, sitting down abruptly.   
  
Depth Charge looked between the computer and the femme. "Who?" he asked in confusion. He'd never heard of anyone called 'Eightline'.   
  
Overdose barely heard him through her thoughts, but she absently told him, "He's the guy who put me in jail." She shook her head slowly. "I was starting to think I'd NEVER find him..."   
  
Nobody named 'Eightline' is on this planet." Depth Charge frowned. "Does he have a different name, now?"   
  
"Like, totally, dude," Bob said. "The bad dude's, like, named, like, Tarantulas, now."   
  
"Tarantulas?" The Maximal blinked. "That would explain why he surrendered himself to us," he mumbled to himself.   
  
Overdose heard him, and her eyes narrowed. If Eigh--er, Tarantulas, had surrendered to the Maximals, that meant he was at the Maximal base under guard. That might be a problem, or it might not be, depending on the security. She was confident that her skills would get her into the base, but this was too important to her to mess up. "Excuse me," she suddenly said to the ray-bot, and then she went offline.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Venom.   
  
What do you want, Overdose?   
  
Your help.   
  
Why should I help you?   
  
Do you want to get revenge on Eightline?   
  
...you've found him?   
  
Yes.   
  
I want out. I want to kill him myself.   
  
I won't let you out. Will you help me, or do I do this alone?   
  
...I'll help. I have a condition, however.   
  
I won't guarantee that I'll fulfill it.   
  
Oh, you will. It's not so much of a condition as it is a guideline.   
  
Guideline?   
  
You specialize in torture as I specialized in destruction. If you won't let me kill him, I at least want to see him beg at our feet for the mercy of a quick death before you finish him. None of those gags you usually use.   
  
I...see. You wish to make him grovel. Why?   
  
Yes. I want him to pay for confining me...you...us...in that jail for so long. If not for that, you would have never met Protoform X, and I might have triumphed over you. I want to hear him scream for what he did to us.   
  
...very well.   
  
Then it's a deal?   
  
Yes.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose woke to see Depth Charge hovering over her worriedly. She looked up at him soberly, the color once again leeching from her fins, but this time leaving HER in control. "I'm sorry," she said softly. She lunged upward, her fists swinging together in a move that trapped the ray-bot's head between them with a resounding crunch.   
  
The Maximal fell down dazedly, but didn't go offline. He struggled to sit up, his vision blurry. Hands suddenly grabbed his shoulders, and his eyes focused on the face right in front of his. "What--?"   
  
"I told you not to trust me," she whispered. Overdose leaned forward slightly and gently pressed her lips to his mouth while her hands traveled from supporting his shoulders to cradling his head in a tender caress.   
  
He closed his eyes as her still-colorful eyes swirled before him, making him even dizzier. That's why he didn't notice her knee until the hands holding his head brought it down to meet her kneecap. Depth Charge slid into unconsciousness wondering why Overdose kept kissing him, and why he seemed to enjoy it so much...   
  
* * * * *  
  
Rampage jumped as something rose up from underneath him where he stood in his beast mode over one of the tunnel entrances. "Depth Ch--Overdose!" He stared in surprise. "Overdose?"   
  
The darkened femme glanced over at him, still hauling Depth Charge's inert body out of the tunnel. "Come help me," she ordered.   
  
He laughed a bit uneasily. Overdose usually wasn't colored like that unless she was really angry, but he also had never seen her eyes look normal while she was in a killing rage. Was that a good thing? "Did you kill him?" he asked, disappointed that he hadn't had the chance to do it himself.   
  
"No. I just knocked him out." The crazy femme stood aside as Rampage transformed and yanked the offline Maximal free, casually disregarding the damage done to the ray-bot as he scraped against the rocks.   
  
"Oh. Well, allow me!" Rampage chuckled nastily. A strangle-hold around his neck stopped him from taking out his missile launcher, however. Overdose was hugging him happily.   
  
"Thanks for helping me!" she yelled enthusiastically right in his audios. He flinched at the loud volume, so she stopped yelling. She didn't let him go, though. In fact, her grip even increased. "But I can't have you killing Depth Charge right now. I think I need you both out of commission at the moment," she said in a slightly sinister voice, twisting her body around until she was looking straight into his eyes.   
  
Rampage blinked. "What? Overdose, I--"   
  
"Sorry about this," she said seriously, and Rampage gasped in pain as all ten of her nails pierced his neck where she was still hugging him. The poison she kept them painted with flecked off into his mechfluid. Overdose remained clinging to him as he convulsed in pain, her eyes watching his as they dimmed to black.   
  
The dose wouldn't kill him. Injecting him with that much poison had actually shortened his suffering because his systems couldn't support that much and had shut down quickly. She had given him nine times as much as his 'half-brother' because his healing abilities would probably take care of the stuff before she was finished, and she didn't want him interfering. She didn't want Depth Charge interfering either, so she had injected some of the poison into him as well before she left her caves.   
  
"Bob, raise the shields." A green glow tinted the water down in the tunnels and then faded away, protecting her home.   
  
She had done a couple more things before she left...   
  
* * * * *  
  
You should have just killed them.   
  
I don't think so.   
  
Whatever.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose dug her heels into the sand and tugged again, hauling Depth Charge farther up onto shore. She had dragged Rampage to another point along the shoreline, so that the two of them wouldn't be near each other when they came back online. Both of them would be unable to contact anyone because she had disabled their commlinks. She felt bad about knocking them both out, but...not that bad.   
  
Giggles bubbled up inside her as Overdose turned away to find her revenge at last.   
  
* * * * * 


	5. Part 5

Part Five  
  
Tarantulas looked up as the door to the old storage room that was his cell opened. "I'm still here," he said wearily. He hadn't been recharging well lately. With good reason...  
  
"Just checking," Cheetor called back.   
  
"Yeah, well, KEEP checking," he mumbled as the door closed again. Optimus Primal had been astonished and suspicious when Tarantulas had actually requested that someone check on him regularly. It was a good idea, though, so Primal had granted the request, even if he still didn't have any idea why Tarantulas WANTED to kept in the most secure place they could put him.   
  
The spider paced across the floor nervously. It was becoming a habit, something to break the monotony of waiting. Waiting for Overdose to find him. She would, he knew. It was only a matter of time...   
He started as the light overhead flickered, making the shadows move. Wonderful. Now he was jumping at shadows, and the light was going out. He watched it as it blinked on and off, getting dimmer each time. Tarantulas walked over to the door and knocked.   
  
"What?" said Cheetor, his voice muffled by the door.   
  
"The light's failing."   
  
There was a wary pause, and then the door slowly opened again. Cheetor cautiously had his weapon drawn, but Tarantulas had been expecting that and was already backing away. The Maximal glanced at the dimming light and nodded.   
  
"I'll see who can fix it," was all he said, and then he shut the door. The light died completely.   
  
"Um, the light's out," Tarantulas mentioned.   
  
"You'll have to live with it for now," Cheetor said through the door. "Rhinox is busy."   
  
"Okay," Tarantulas sighed. "Having the lights out isn't that bad," he muttered to himself mockingly as his vision adjusted to the darkness. "At least this way I'm not jumping at shadows..." Something rustled as it moved, and the Predacon froze as two multicolored almond-shaped eyes appeared in front of him. He KNEW those eyes!   
  
"And if you're not jumping at shadows after all?" whispered a familiar voice. "Aren't you afraid of the monsters that come out when it's dark?" The tilted eyes came closer to where Tarantulas stood in paralyzed terror. "Answer me," they demanded softly.   
  
"Yes," he moaned. He was more than afraid of this particular monster, but...Cheetor was on the other side of the door behind him, along with the rest of the Maximals. All he had to do was shout for help! He opened his mouth to do exactly that...   
  
...and a single finger rested itself against his mouth, stopping the yell. "Shhhh," the eyes crooned to him, and he whimpered. "None of that, now."   
  
"What do you want, Overdose?" he said almost inaudibly, finally saying her name out loud.   
  
The eyes tipped to one side as Overdose cocked her head. "Revenge, of course," she said in an almost conversational, if quiet, tone.   
  
Tarantulas shivered. Of course. Drawing on the remains of his pride, he pulled his head away from her hand. "Why shouldn't I yell for help, then?" he asked boldly. "The worst you'd be able to do before the Maximals come to my defense would be to kill me quickly." That would be preferable to what she probably had planned for him.   
  
"The worst? Oh, ye of little faith," she cooed, "I can do SO much more than just killing you." The white flash of her smile turned the bravado stiffening Tarantulas's back to gelatin. A gentle hand touched the side of his face, and he shrank away, only to gasp as the kind touch returned as a hard slap. Her voice took on a harsh note, anger stirring beneath its surface. "If you don't cooperate with me, I'll make sure your death with be slow and agonizing. Pain can linger for such a long time if you inflict it right."   
  
Tarantulas cringed. "And if I cooperate?" he forced himself to say.   
  
The smile returned, hate and rage showing in it. "I'll consider making your death more painless, or perhaps I'll just kill you sooner." Overdose's hand stroked down his face again, and he concentrated on not flinching away. The light fingers slid down to his neck, and the other hand joined it, holding something in its grip. Before Tarantulas realized what was happening, she had buckled the collar onto him. He brought his hands up to it automatically, but he couldn't find a release. The thing had molded to his neck like a new part of him.   
  
"It's not like you really have a choice," the soft voice said, anger receding back into amused satisfaction. "You're coming with me whether you like it or not. See this remote?" Green lighted buttons in a regular pattern were displayed to him.   
  
"Yes," he whispered, not understanding but afraid to.   
  
"If you disobey me, I'll do this." One of the buttons disappeared as it was covered by a finger. There was a faint click.   
  
Tarantulas collapsed to his knees as the collar activated, sending waves of pain through him. The pain paralyzed his voice, so that he could only shudder with agony. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the pain ended. A feeble whimper pushed out of him as he looked up at the eyes above him. He understood now why Rampage obeyed Megatron.   
  
"Are you going to be a good boy?" Overdose said with a chuckle. Her laughter died when Tarantulas stayed silent, too weak to answer immediately. She reached down and gripped the wheels on his shoulders, lifting him until his face was level with hers. "I asked a question, Lieutenant," she snarled, still keeping her voice down, "and I expect answers when I ask questions."   
  
The Predacon trembled in her grip. "I'll be good," he promised hopelessly. He almost collapsed again when Overdose dropped him, his legs barely able support him.   
  
"You had better," she said grimly. "That was only the lowest setting on the remote." There was a noise from the other side of the door, and Overdose reached forward and dragged Tarantulas to her side as she flicked something on in her hand and threw it into the opposite corner. She pushed him up against the wall next to the door and flattened herself against him. "Silence," she breathed in his audios.   
  
Cheetor opened the door to Tarantulas's make-shift cell. As the spider had said, the light had gone out.   
  
"I'm still here," came the voice from in the darkness, and Cheetor nodded.   
  
"Okay. Rhinox is going to be fixing that light soon." He didn't bother actually making sure he saw the Predacon. Where else could he be, except in this room? There wasn't any exit except the door he was looking through, and Tarantulas's voice was obviously still here. He wasn't going anywhere without it!   
Cheetor laughed to himself at his joke as he leaned against the wall as the door closed. Guard duty was so boring...   
  
What the cat hadn't noticed was that Tarantulas's reply was the same he had made last time. That wasn't surprising, but what would have been surprising was that the reply was the EXACT same. A recording, in fact. Rhinox would probably discover it as soon as he came into the room to fix the light, but Rhinox was going to busy for a long time while Bob wrecked merry havoc in the computer systems.   
  
Overdose smiled to herself as she slowly drifted down the corridor, pressed to the wall with Tarantulas pinned between her and it. She had gotten out of the room the same way she had gotten in, by going through the door. Of course, Cheetor hadn't SEEN her going through the door, but that was because of her chameleon-like abilities. All she had needed was the space the Maximal left between himself and the opposite side of the door, and she had gotten out.   
  
It had been difficult, yes. Impossible? Never! Her armor could create amazingly 3-D images, fooling anyone at any angle when they looked at her. If she only knew where she had gotten the ability...   
  
* * * * *  
  
I know.   
  
Shut up. I don't really want to know if it involved you.   
  
Oh, fine. Be that way. You should have killed the cat. He might discover Eightline's disappearance before we're gone.   
  
His name is Tarantulas. And it doesn't matter if Cheetor does. They won't be able to find us.   
  
Well, TARANTULAS's energy signature will register with the Maximal scanners if they look for it.  
  
I'll deal with that if it happens. Besides, if Cheetor goes missing they'll notice pretty fast.   
  
You have a point. By the way, can you use the highest setting for the collar next time? That was fun watching him.   
  
Possibly. Question...   
  
Go ahead.   
  
Did you have all this stuff done to yourself voluntarily?   
  
...some of it.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose waited patiently by the blast doors. Someone would eventually open them, and if she had timed it right, that person would be Depth Charge. Yes, she could be patient until then. The destroyer inside her carefully kept her insane impulses in check, willing to do so if it brought their revenge into reach.   
  
Huddled against the stone in front of her, Tarantulas was shaking with fear. Just across a lava river from them, Rattrap was talking with Silverbolt about cleaning the autoguns. Just that far away. All he would have to do was dodge to the side and scream for help, and they would see him and stop Overdose. He might be wounded, perhaps even die, but that was nothing compared to what she wanted to do to him. All he had to do was lean to one side as if he was just shifting his weight, and...   
  
A hand caught his wrist as he lunged to the side, spinning him around inside her arms as her other hand clamped over his mouth and smothered his yelling. Rattrap and Silverbolt didn't even looked up from they're conversation.   
  
"Bad boy," Overdose said mildly.   
  
He cowered back against the wall when she released the hand over his mouth, but her other hand still crushed his wrist in its grip. Her free hand was suddenly holding a thin black remote with glowing green buttons, and a soft moan tore out of Tarantulas's throat. It was too late, though, and the pain ripped through him, stifling his voice with the pain as before. Overdose caught his other wrist and held him still as he helplessly quivered in agony.   
  
* * * * *  
  
Depth Charge cursed as he neared the Maximal base. "Open the blast doors!" he shouted.   
  
Blackarachnia saw him coming from her position with the autoguns, and she radioed the people inside. Rattrap and Silverbolt hauled the doors apart as Depth Charge flew up, and he transformed as soon as he entered, running forward a couple more steps before stopping. He pivoted and looked at the two door-openers, who were staring at the obvious wound on his chest and battered head.   
  
"Tell whoever's guarding Tarantulas to check on him NOW!" he ordered. "My radio's disabled!" Silverbolt shook off his surprise and immediately obeyed the command. Rattrap chased after the ray-bot as he half-ran towards the Ark.   
  
"Eh, what's up, Captain Minnow?!" the rat panted.   
  
Depth Charge didn't even bother to respond. Optimus met them at the remains of the Axalon's bridge.   
"Tarantulas is missing," the Maximal leader said grimly. "We'll have to search--"   
  
"Don't bother," the ray-bot said tiredly as he slumped down into a chair. "He's probably long gone."   
  
"Ya can never trust a Pred," Rattrap sneered. "I KNEW we shouldn't ta let him inta da base!" He turned to where Rhinox had approached Depth Charge and was examining his mangled commlink. "How'dya know da Pred had escaped?"   
  
"Do you know what Tarantulas was after?" Optimus asked urgently.   
  
Depth Charge shook his head, wincing as the motion caused the room to spin. "I don't think he was after anything," he said heavily. "I believe he surrendered to us in hopes of getting protection."   
  
"Megatron was after him?" Optimus asked blankly. "Why would that bother him?"   
  
"Not Megatron. Overdose. And I'm pretty sure Tarantulas did NOT leave with her of his own free will."   
  
* * * * *  
  
Overdose finished binding Tarantulas's wrists together and stood back up. The bound Predacon whimpered and inched himself backwards using his tied feet as she smiled down at him. Still smiling, she turned and went to the entrance of the small cave. She looked back at her prisoner from there.   
  
"I'll deal with you in a little while," she purred. Tarantulas recoiled from her delighted face, and she laughed. "Bob, shield the room."   
  
The crazy femme reclined in her chair, thinking over the events of the day. A compromise suggested, memories revealed, battles fought mentally, violence in the outer world, revenge in her grasp. A good day? Perhaps.   
  
But her revenge may actually be made useful to her earlier idea...   
  
* * * * *  
  
Why do you not torture him?   
  
I may have another use for him.   
  
No! I want to see his pain!   
  
It's still torture...just of a different sort, I suppose. Psychological more than physical.   
  
But what about our deal?   
  
I told you I might not be able to fulfill it.   
  
Then why should I-  
  
Oh, very well.   
  
Why are you so reluctant? You've tortured hundreds and enjoyed their pain, why hesitate now?  
  
Perhaps I've seen enough anguish today in my memories.   
  
Ah, I see. The ghosts of the past haunt you.   
  
I guess you could put it that way.   
  
Let the dead lie, Overdose, and put this ghost to rest. Complete our revenge.   
  
There has been too much pain today.   
  
So?   
  
So, tomorrow is a new day. 


End file.
